Mississauga and Toronto want Ford to revisit outdoor sports amenity ban that his own COVID-19 advisers don’t support

Thestar.com
April 23, 2021
David Rider

Thu., April 22, 2021timer3 min. read
A provincial order closing outdoor amenities for tennis, golf, basketball, skateboarding and more should be revisited, Mississauga and Toronto officials say.

While the order runs counter to advice from Premier Doug Ford’s own COVID-19 scientific advisers, officials aren’t hopeful for what would be the latest in a series of Ford reversals on ways to tame runaway COVID-19 infections.

Mississauga Mayor Bonnie Crombie has received no response to her plea that badly need exercise options for kids and families be allowed to remain open, with rules and in some cases supervision, to minimize the risk of virus transmission.

“I can only assume that (Ford) believes that any other reopenings at this time would send the wrong signal as we are in a very heated third wave of the pandemic,” Crombie told the Star on Thursday.

In a statement Mayor John Tory told the Star: “I would support any reconsideration of the limits on outdoor activity that is based on scientific advice received. Any change to current restrictions would have to be accompanied by careful compliance with public health rules (masks, distance, etc).”

Public health officials, he noted, have said “an increased range of outdoor activity can be safe and that is why we have worked to keep playgrounds open and encourage safe use of parks wherever possible.”

Ford apologized Thursday for his announcement last week ordering playgrounds closed and giving police extra powers to keep people home, while ruling out a provincial program to ensure sick pay for workers affected by COVID-19.

He has since reversed those measures but the closure order for outdoor amenities in parks remains in effect.

Dr. Peter Juni, head of Ontario’s COVID-19 science advisory table, told the Star’s Irelyne Lavery: “It does not make sense to have regulations in place that do not respect the characteristics of this pandemic.

“We need to make a distinction between settings that are safe and settings that are unsafe. A park is safe. A tennis court is safe.”

Asked about the closures, Dr. Eileen de Villa, Toronto’s public health chief, said COVID-19 transmission risk is much lower outside than inside, and physical activity, done safely, is important for mental and physical health.

“I’m 100-per-cent supportive of trying to give people the opportunity to be outside for sure,” she said. “It’s lower risk but it’s not no risk.”

Crombie said families should be allowed to play sports together, or even just sit together at a park picnic table. Some activities, including tennis, see competitors stay far apart from each other, she noted.

If basketball courts can function, she added, Mississauga would use its “park ambassadors” to monitor them and put a halt to any dangerous play.

“We have to look at families and the importance of mental health to children -- many of them working online at home and they do need to get out and exercise,” she said.

Brad Bradford, the Toronto city councillor for Ward 19-Beaches East York, on Thursday sent a letter to Ford asking him for a “clear plan to safely restart sports and community recreation.”

Local sports club organizers, Bradford wrote, “are concerned about the lack of information and consultation on plans to safely restart these activities ...

“We need clarity urgently given the length of time in planning and organizing these types of activities.”